Dorset based estate agent hails transformational year

Dorset estate agency The Property Franchise Group says its has undergone a transformative year due to two major deals.

The UK’s largest property franchisor, is holding its AGN today, at which Paul Latham, Non-Executive Chairman, will make a statement.

The Bournemouth firm has completed a merger with the Belvoir Group and the acquisition of The Guild of Property Professionals and Fine & Country making it one of the largest estate agent groups in the UK.

Paul Latham said: “The first five months of 2024 have been transformational for the group, with the completion of two significant transactions.

“As reported at the results in April, 2024 started with good momentum and that has continued to build. Our longstanding businesses have traded in line with our growth objectives. Notably, their lettings’ revenues have continued to grow at similar rates to last year and the sales-agreed pipeline at 30 April 2024 was 20% up on the same period in 2023, signalling a much stronger sales market so far in 2024.

“We now have one of the most experienced management teams in the sector with a broad set of complementary skills and an unrivalled expertise in both franchising and licensing. This extensive experience will help us to both integrate and leverage our breadth of capabilities to enhance revenues across the businesses.

“We are cognisant of the pending General Election which may impact the sales market’s recovery over the summer as well as some broader headwinds. Notwithstanding these uncertainties, we are confident of driving our organic growth, delivering the expected synergies from our recent acquisitions and developing new additional revenue streams. For these reasons, the Board looks to the future with confidence and excitement about the further value we can deliver for all stakeholders from our increased scale and ongoing ambition.”

After 12 years with the business, David Raggett, chief financial officer, has announced he is to retire next year.

Over his remaining time he will continue to lead the group finance function, work closely with the chief executive to deliver the strategy and guide the management team on the realisation of the benefits from the two recent deals.